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Hello friends. I’m in Lanquin, again in Guatemala, after a brief trip in Honduras to visit the Mayan site of Copan. In front of me there is the Rio Dulce, clear and green, my mind synchronized on its flow. Images of 6 months of travel born, pass and disappear as in a dreamlike mosaic.
Nearby there is one of the most spectacular places among those visited so far: Semuc Champey, with natural pools formed in a valley.
And not only. There are caves in which flows a river. We went inside with candles, swimming into the cave for long stretches. Sometimes there were small waterfalls. Some points are also a bit dangerous, for example near the end of the tour there is a tunnel just 1 meter wide, and long about 3, where the water enters with violence. Following the instructions of the guide I come out to the other side without even having the time to understand what happened. Truly an amazing place, even though the water was a bit too cold for my taste.
Ah, another amusing experience, always in these fabulous scenarios, floating on a rubber donut letting the river currents carrying me lazy.
Before coming here, as I said, I was in the Mayan site of Copan in Honduras. Very interesting, not very big but with beautiful sculptures and stems, some in the museum nearby. It was located near the southern border of the Mayan empire and reached its peak between the fifth and ninth centuries AD.
I explain more with the pictures.

Here is where I’m now, a hostel consisting of huts that go down to the river, where there are these platforms over the water. The night I prefer to sleep in a hammock beside the river, with its sound, under the stars.

Some more photos of Antigua in Guatemala.

Little girl in Antigua. Over 50% of the population of Guatemala is a direct descendant of the Maya.

A skeleton in Antigua’s market. As if to say: sooner or later… all. Sad but true.

A street in Antigua.

The Mayan site of Copan in Honduras.
I must tell you that I have seen the hieroglyphs, read the survived codes and texts and unfortunately I came to the conclusion that the world will end on December 23 this year. Eh, I know guys, that’s it! The fact is that the Mayan calendar ends exactly on that date. So far I thought it was stupid to be frightened because it’s as switching from 1999 to 2000 or something similar. In reality however the Mayans predicted that when this happens catastrophic disasters occur. And Maya didn’t make errors in their predictions. So, have fun in the few months remaining, and patience, it all ends, nothing is forever.

Here the Maya played ball. We don’t know the rules exactly, but more or less consisted of hitting a rubber ball of about 4 kilo without dropping it on the ground and trying to hit the sculptures placed on top (some depicting macai, are in the museum). In some cases it was like a gladiator game and the losers were sacrificed. Other times it was the best player to be sacrificed because for them it was a great honor. In this case, however, everyone played badly on purpose, except the most stupids.

And here you see the hieroglyphics clearly say: “spend all the savings before December 23, 2012, because after they will be useless. But it will be very hard not be robbed before by international finance and bankers. May they die. With pain. Together with the cops and judges who protect them”.
This is written. I have just translated literally.

The hieroglyphic stairway, a long text written on the steps. The highest among all the Mayan sites. Unfortunately sometimes the meaning is not clear because some steps have fallen, and archaeologists have put back them a bit at random, creating a sort of Dadaist cut-up.

One of the many stunning Mayan carvings.

Card players in the country next to the Mayan ruins, still in Honduras.

Little girl.

Mother and son.

Bank’s guardian.

Old people.

Beautiful girl.

In Honduras.

The Rio Dulce. I did this stretch on the rubber donut.

And here Semuc Champey. Rock walls of thick vegetation surround the pools that run under. Something curious happens: the river, which at that point is very violent, enter into an underground tunnel, passing under these pools, and coming out again after a few kilometers.